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On to the official day one of the trip! this was a packed day, out of the lobby and on the bus at 8:30am, driving from France to Germany (with a bonus surprise park along the way) and checking into hotel El Andaluz at Europa park post 7pm - too late to go into the park (closed around 6pm this day), but early enough to explore the hotel and surrounding hotels - which were all super neat. so I will break up day 1 into two parts. first off, let's have a look at the hotel at the Airport in Paris where we had stayed, Hotel Ibis. it was very typical of a European Hotel (so I was told). . fairly small room, with two small single beds (with very thin mattresses). oh, it was fine for staying in overnight, but glad we weren't here for multiple nights, as the beds were probably the most uncomfortable out of all the hotels we stayed in on the trip. But hey, at the end of the day? I'm in Paris (at the airport, but in Paris. .so I'm not complaining!). the view of the hotel area at this stop for the airport shuttles as we were walking to the bus that would be our main mode of transportation for this trip. The Paris airport is HUGE! on the bus! and ready to go! I think there were 36 of us, on a bus that sat 50? so plenty of space to spread out and move around. . although I ended up sharing a row with my roomie James for the entire time we were on the bus thruout the trip (such a wonderful guy, and he put up with me as I got more and more stressed about what was going on at home during the trip. Both on the bus, in Disney, and in the room). Really. . James is gold. The TPR crew on official day one of the trip, as we're leaving the CDG airport in Paris. Photo courtesy of Robb this was on the window, and just cracked me up, every time i looked up at it. I mean, I know it's directing you how to use the emergency "crowbar" thing to break the window out in case of an accident. . but "Nooduitgang" makes me giggle. some pics of the French Countryside as we began our trip! windmills, windmills everywhere. . so many windmills. and really, rather soothing and pretty. huh. . what's this? empty parking lot? Tho I really like how the shade for the parking is made from Solar Panels. hmmmm. . what could they be generating electricity for? this is a LOT of parking. . I feel like I'm Charlie on "Lost". . "where AREEEE we?" I spot a roller coaster thru the trees! yup, we're at Wallygator Parc in Maizières-les-Metz, Lorraine, France ! but ..why is it empty? wow. . this is Tuesday, and the park is not actually open! But Robb made some magic happen, and the park opened just for us on the trip for a few hours so we could experience their 3 big coasters: Comet (a Vekoma Corkscrew), Anaconda (an infamously rough woodie) and Monster (a Raptor clone, relocated from Japan, but it runs with no midcourse). OMG. .thanks Robb! (or should that be "thanks?". . a Vekoma and a rough woodie as the first two coasters of the trip. . . after they haven't been running for a few days since the park hadn't been open since Sat). lol. .I'm teasing. . this was WONDERFUL! a couple of folks from the park met us at the front, and along with a couple of operators - who led us from ride to ride to run them for us - we headed into the closed park! so strange to be walking into a closed park. . . it was eerily quiet, and such a gorgeous day. I spy a carousel! wow..another absolutely stunning Carousel. 2nd day in a row, I didn't ride tho. . as this wasn't what the operators and the park had opened for us to ride. But it was so pretty I stopped to take a picture anyways, just happy to get to see it. how about a picture of Erik taking a picture of Ian taking a picture of me who was taking a picture of them? because? why not? the park is absolutely lovely. . there is some really nice theming thruout the park (which is odd because the theming is so nice, but then a lot of the rides themselves didn't seem to have much theming put into them). But still a lovely park.. . and this river cruise ride (which ended up being a very popular ride in most of the parks we visited) was very pretty, even with not a whole lot of theming. oh, I spoke a little too soon. . . entering Jurassic Park..sorta the dinos are part of the themed Raft ride, which has the rafts going thru a dinosaur enclosure while trying to survive escaped dinos. it looked really well done, but as the park was closed today it wasn't operating. I think this was a haunted house attraction? the exterior was interesting. . . but left me a little confused on what the theming/storyline was supposed to be. Celtic spirits perhaps? oooo..they have a Zamperla Air Race? I love the one at SFFT, although that one goes up. this is a park that has a nice assortment of flats and thrill rides! and then we came around the corner and this came into view.. our first coaster of the official trip: Comet. a Vekoma Corkscrew. the operators ran a couple of test trains while we watched nervously and took pics. it sure LOOKS pretty. . . Crossing Fingers and ready for a ride! (pic courtesy or either Robb or Elissa) whee! front row! know what? it was really . . . good ? OMG. .it was good! I think I rode it three times before I stepped off to take some pics of my own. Never thought I'd enjoy a Vekoma Corkscrew. . but maybe because it *hadn't* warmed up? it was very enjoyable the pics I took of it.. with the "Space Shoot" tower threading the needle the park reps were really excited that we were enjoying ourselves. . and they offered to open up the Space Shoot tower if anyone wanted to ride for us, before we headed over to the next coaster. i think there was complete agreement that, "yes, please". . . so they tested it a few times, and opened it up for us to get a ride or two. it was a really fun S&S Space Shot tower . . I enjoyed it. and this one had a little bit of theming too. I mean, not much, but a little bit in the queue and around it. (pics courtesy of AJ or Brad, I believe in this case) as we headed over to the parks woodie, Anaconda, we passed by this charming ride. .kinda like Moose on the Loose with Ponies. the Park reps told me that this was the most recent ride to the park - although they were about to open up a new section with more family rides (that we later would be able to walk thru for a "backstage tour". .tho they asked for no pictures please. But it had a cute mini log flume and a couple of nice family flats, and looked like a solid addition to the park) going into the section where Anaconda is.. not sure what this "theming" was. .but it was interesting. as was this.. .um. . ok? LOL and here is the official entrance to Anaconda Ride sign. . and this just cracked me up. . the kids riding on the snakes back. . wheeee! and why are the snakes that make up the "N"s stoned? LOL oooo.. . the station theming was just so-so. .but wow, do I love these trains. it looked like there was a lot of new wood on the track, and the park reps said they had done some retracking work. I was ready. .and prepared myself for a rough ride. . it wasn't warmed up, and had a reputation for being rough. (camera out with permission, since the park was closed, and they told me I could take a picture before they sent us out as long as camera went back in my pocket before we pulled out) here we go. . .TPR is about to do Anaconda at Wallygator! whee!! another one that shocked me. Not only was it *not* rough, but it was actually pretty smooth in places. it wasn't an exhilarating thrill ride, but it was a pretty wonderful family woodie. . I enjoyed it. (and I think I rode this 5 or more times while we were over here). pics courtesy of Robb or Elissa look at those smiles! you can tell the retracking work they did was a great job. after multiple rides on Anaconda, we headed to the parks main attraction, Monster.. . the Raptor clone from Japan (it's so pink!!!!!). . . but with no midcourse. remember what I said about weird/no theming in this park in places. . well. .that was pretty fully on display here. I was surprised to see it just plopped in a field. tho it seems to have a racecar on it. . . for some reason? the racing theme is not anywhere else in the queue. .which is pretty generic, to be honest. tho the amount of warnings are impressive. and we had a wonderful time making up what some of the warnings were for. (myself and a few others had time to giggle on this, as I knew it would be too intense for me - I mean, Raptor is too intense for me - so I knew this would be one and done for me at least. . and it was. But I liked it a lot too. after my 1 ride. . it was starting to get warm out here in the sun so I went downstairs under the loading platform in the shade to take pics of others enjoying riding this over and over. I was ok in the shade. . .making up restrictions for why folks couldn't ride. after Monster, we were led to a restaurant that they opened for us, and we got sodas and ice cream (yay!). .as noted it was a warm day. I got put on napkin distribution duty (yes, some of them made it into my bag, but I did have them later for when someone needed them, so it all worked out). I'm not really sure what ride this is. . but it's very pretty, and has lots of lights on it. bet it's beautiful at night! and I was SO excited to see a Sea Storm . . I love these and they're so rare in the States. I came to find out, not so rare in Europe, and pretty much every park had at least 1 (a couple of them had 2 - standard, and kiddie), most of them direct "out of the box" theme and all. but yes, I rode them ALLLLLL still I was thrilled to see this one here at Wallygator, even if it wasn't open for us today. but while we were breaking for Ice Cream, the reps asked if anyone was interested in G-Lock.. the Zamperla Air Race. again, it was, I think, 100% from everyone, "yes" So we headed over that way, and they cycled it, and the operators opened it up for us! whee!!!! I think this pic is from Brad, but not 100% sure. . might be AJ. and there is a little bit of theming outside this ride.. .I mean. .it's a rocket! (and a trash can) after our fun rides on the Air Race, it was time to head back out. . . we still had a bit of a drive to get to Europa. . and this had turned out to be a wonderful stop (thank you again, Robb for making this happen). . so we started towards the front gate. (oh, I should mention here that due to a conversation that Smisty had with the park reps. . so I heard. . she was gifted a wheel from Monster. . and then they gifted TPR with 9 more wheels, which were given out by Kristen at the end of the trip. Luckily I didn't "win" one, so I didn't have to schlep back a wheel thru TSA in my luggage. . LOL). But thanks Smisty. . she really is quite the awesome person! (who also asked about being able to buy something at the park. . and so they opened up a gift shop for us on the way out too!!!). anyways, here's the river boat ride from a different angle as we headed back to the bus: the front section, as we headed out. . the shop at the far front on the right is the one they opened for us. swag I bought? a shirt for Nick (that he sadly, never got to wear, but as it's a Large - they didn't' have medium - I gifted it to our friend Sean who loves theme parks. .and Nick would have wanted him to have it. the XXL gray one I got for me (I always get XXL so if Nick threw it in the dryer the shirts won't shrink so much I can't wear them. . .something I suspect I'll be doing for years to come anyways) and the hot pink (of course) Wallygator magnet, that's on the fridge. and with goodies purchased, and a pic taken by the park to commemorate TPR coming to visit (I don't seem to have a copy of that, or would share), we headed back to the bus, and made our way towards the Rhine River, and Germany. . we were due at Europa Park this evening. to be continued. . . . .

This past June, I was able to - thanks to TPR, experience parts of Europe for the first time ever. Anyone that knows me from here on the boards, knows that I tend to do pretty photo-extensive and detailed trip reports. and I planned to do one this time too - I took over 5300 pictures. But life got in the way, and unfortunately i've experienced some major trauma in the two months since the trip. At the urging of my therapist who has been encouraging me to "journal". . I'm going to go ahead and do this trip report - it SHOULD be done, as this was an absolutely amazing trip and I really want to share it with everyone! I can't promise it will be as detailed as I typically would be. I can't remember the names of some of the coasters, or might mix up the order of things. . . but i will do my best and hope you enjoy! this was an absolutely PACKED and awesome trip, and I expect this will take me a while to get thru. . but here's the first day. and this is going to be the first (and hopefully one of the very few times) that I'll be a bit sad here. The first pic I'm going to share is of my Late Husband, Nick. Its' the last pic I have of him healthy, as he dropped me off at the Austin airport at "are you're fucking kidding me?" early morning for the first leg of my flight: eventually got boarded and was on my way to Newark. Trip started out well. . with Stroopwafel and coffee! at Newark I had an almost 7 hour layover. It hadn't started out that way, but with the flights moving around so much between when I booked them and my actual trip? yeah, eventually I just said screw it and took the long layover instead of trying to move everything around again. Besides, they offered me a discount to get into the United Lounge. . not a great discount, but a discount. so I took it and headed that way. hey. . fancy schmantzy. . Newark all "decorated" for Pride Month. um. . ok. I spy Manhattan from the airport on my way to the United lounge huh. . this is a little uninspiring. I was expecting something more . . . complicated than a Hampton Inn complimentary breakfast buffet. ohhhhh. . ^ is for the "suckers" who pop in for something quick, and don't follow the long narrow hallway back to the end of the concourse. . because if you do? it opens up to THIS: now that's more like it. yeah. . I can kill 7 hours here. time to nosh. (hey, I'm a Jew, in Newark. . I can use "nosh" here) and I can grab extra napkins to put into my bag, so I have them for the trip, since I like to have more than one with me when I eat lovely view of Manhattan from up here in the lounge. . . better than the concourse. I napped and charged my phone, and eventually my flight to Paris was ready to board - conveniently right at the gate below the escalators from the lounge. I had booked an upgrade for the Newark-Paris leg, but on one of the many flight changes, they had switched me to a plane that didnt' offer that particular upgrade. so they bumped me to (I think it's called) "Premium Plus" not quite business class, but better than Premium, and the seats beyond those (Steerage?) ooo. . wide and comfy. . I was the last row in the section with these comfy reclining seats. a peek at what the folks in the section behind us got for a meal. . . not awful (while the cart was stopped next to me) and looks much better than the Lean Cuisine that the rest of the plane got. but up here in "Premium Plus" ? we got real silverware! and, what I think, was Beef Bourguignon all I know is that it was damn good. . . view of the sun setting. . or rising. . I can't really recall at this point. Must have been rising tho, because I spent day in Paris once landing. but before landing, we got another meal service: Peach/Hazlenut Crepes with fruit and granola yogurt & a croissant. they kept us stuffed on the plane! due to delays, I arrived too late to meet up with the TPR group that was headed out for Paris Sightseeing, but AJ's plane had also had a bit of a delay and he kindly waited for me at the hotel. Rooms weren't ready yet, so once bags were stored, and he figured out the train route to take, we headed off to meet up with everyone at a small, but lovely park in the center of Paris called Le Jardin d'Acclimatation. we arrived about two hours after most of the group that was with Robb & Elissa had arrived, and had already ridden most things, so AJ and I focused on the two coasters that he had really wanted to ride (I was fine riding anything. . at this point I had been up for almost 30 hours, so was just happy to get to meet up for some sightseeing). the place is bigger than I had expecting, and if I ever go back will spend some time exploring, as it really was a lovely place with a gorgeous Carousel up front. . but since we were running late, and coasters were more important at the moment? just snapped a pic of it. (the group had stopped to grab a snack, so AJ and I had about 20 minutes or so until they were headed out and we were determined to be with them when they did) not very busy on this particular day. . but a nice assortment of family rides, and some small and powered coasters. Pic courtesy of Brad Roach, I think? it was a really fun Bobsled. to ride the other coaster I wanted to go on, I think it was a spinning mouse? I recruited Jon as well as Ian and his hubby to try and get some good spinning. and here's Ryan and Andrew riding one of the flats: oooo. . Napkins!!! someone was riding the carousel as we headed towards the front gates, so stopped to snap a pic of this fabulous vehicle, even tho she had chosen the pony to ride on as noted, lovely landscaping nice train. the group as we were about to head to the Train Station. . pic Courtesy of Robb Alvey with Elissa's excellent guidance, a few trains later we emerged from a station into the main square with the famous Arc de Triomphe I couldn't believe I was here. . seeing things that I never thought I'd see in person. it's STUNNING. this was just a quick stop - one of several - so we didn't cross the traffic to go under it, or into it. . .but what is that on top. are those people? yup! you can pay to climb to the top of the Arc De Triomphe ! if in Paris ever again? I might do that. back to the trains, and a few more stops and changes, and we come out of the station and around the corner. . and . . .. wowza. I knew I had a ticket to go to the top later in the trip (the 1st Sat at Disneyland Paris, actually). . but wow, this was still impressive as hell to see, even from this far back. love locks are still a thing in Paris. . and the city seems to have accommodated the demand by putting up places for people to put them. beware this dude with his mighty green snake! (there's a serpent there with him too) pic courtesy of Elissa (thank you! I sent this home to Nick and he *loved* it). and one of my favorite pics, even tho I really look tired. . . Brad was experimenting with the zoom on his camera to get the blurred background and asked if I would be a guinea pig. wait.. is this a statue of a woman holding birds, with birds on the birds? yup. . LOL the train station signs are pretty amazing in places. . and from the correct angle, look just monsterous. LOVED them. as we made the next stop and exited towards the Louvre, I snapped quite a bit of architecture pics. I think most all of these are parts of the Louvre, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. it's all incredible tho. Jungle Cruise has the backside of water? Paris has the backside of the Louvre. like a pervert, I was peeking thru windows. (hey, we couldn't get in if we wanted to. . the lines were INSANE in the courtyard, and the tickets were sold out that day) the famous courtyard glass pyramids. and then we walked across the street from the Louvre and walked along the famous Seine... we were going to stop and grab a bite to eat at one of the many options/cafes but first we were headed to the Pont des Arts bridge. . . which was once famous for the love locks on it (until the weight of them caused part of the bridge to collapse, and the City removed most of them from the structure itself). but here it is from a distance, with Notre Dame Cathedral in the background (still under repair from that awful fire. . you can see the yellow crane in the pic below) looking back at the Lourve archetecture here's the famous Pont des Arts bridge itself. the boards are very lose, and you must watch your step. no wonder the weight of the many locks caused issues! but there are still some that put the locks on. . at the lightposts on the bridge more architecture as we went towards Notre Dame and looking for food options. at one point I knew what some of these buildings were. . but I'm not remembering now. They're beautiful tho. they say "when in Rome". . . . but hey, I'm not in Rome, I'm in Paris. . so I'll pass on "Ass chef". . regardless if I might like it. Instead, Brad and I went to a place specializing in Crepes and Galettes (funny enough we all ended up eating in places right next to each other) interesting choices, but I ended up going for the Pedro Almodovar. . it was really really good. see? and this tiny cafe had a steep (and open/easy to fall into) Murder / Sex dungeon! never in the USA. .it was awesome. hey. . Capt. Jack Sparrow is selling chocolates at the Pirates Candies! tho we ended up going into a place that sold other options - all looked and smelled amazing. . . .and Kristen and Sarah went into a place to get a fresh baguette but how good does this look??? OMG. .looked amazing. . and I don't even like Meringue. the proof of life pic I sent to Nick outside the Baguette place - I realized I had never sent a message home after landing, and Needed to show him that I had indeed found Robb and Elissa in Paris (Kristen, Jere, and April too) another of those amazing train station signs and then we were off to the last stop today. . as everyone was pretty exhausted (and I had been up almost 36 hours at this point): Notre Dame Kristen tricked me into taking some baguette. . asking if anyone wanted to try. But she had eaten the insides out, leaving the hard crust it was ok. . it was still great, and I had a baguette, in France, while looking at Notre Dame. so .. . . WINNING. tho no trash cans anywhere . . so had to carry the bread scraps with me (or feed the birds. . which I did a little bit). and with that, we headed back to the airport hotel, where my room was ready (and James had already checked in) so could crash after a long day. tomorrow the actual TPR Europe trip starts!

this was today. not a great time to go if you're trying to ride more than Silver Bullet. LOL I guess Hangtime had some issues recently and has been down. But, it was testing this morning. So maybe that's good news for reopening. I'm assuming Calico is being changed to the Candy overlay.

A 460 foot backwards spike (that the train doesn't even make it all the way up) is one way to claim the title of "World's Tallest Coaster." Just saying.

Every normal person I know who visited the park always talks about "That one roller coaster that launches you over 100 mph and has a 400 foot drop." Top Thrill is a one trick pony that people love. It's crazy to ride, and crazy to watch. It's a highly visible icon of the park. One recent major story doesn't mean it's "constantly" in the news. You may pay attention to every story, but the majority of people don't care. I long to be, "That one coaster" guy again. "That one coaster" guy the park caters to. I promise, "That one coaster" guy usually doesn't know about the negative press, or the accident. "That one coaster" guy also doesn't give a shit. "That one coaster" guy has a family and knows the odds of anyone getting hurt are slim-to-none, and that risk is outweighed by the reward of giving his family a kickass trip with "That one coaster" stories for years to come.

Visited the park this past Saturday for the first time in four years. A few observations: On Steel Vengeance (first rides, 2x in back seat, 1x in front seat): This is the best coaster in the world, hands down, bar none. I will die on this hill. The secondary locker system is absolutely crazy – given the ride's insanity, I think they need it, and I think they do a good job – but I've faced far more lax security getting on an airplane! The ride barfed up error codes twice while I was in the station – once, when I was on the train – and transferring off the train also set off an error. When the maintenance guy showed up, all he had to do was smack the transfer track with a wrench, and the error vanished. Amazing. A few great members of that ride crew (big props to the girl in the green hair who honored my seat request every time!), and a few who really felt like holding up the whole train so they could take a power trip to show a former ride op how a restraint was "properly closed". Well done! In general: Magnum got painful. The 'magic seat' should be renamed, 'the spine compression seat'. I am not one to complain about pain on a coaster; look at my avatar for godssakes. GateKeeper was surprisingly forceful and fun. The crew e-stopped Blue Streak halfway up its lift to identify someone who had their phone out. The op then walked all the way up the lift, talked to the person, and had a security guard waiting at the exit to escort them out of the park. I never thought I'd see that. CP doesn't f*ck around. Overall, such a great day. Love that park, and got to enjoy it with a huge group of close friends.

I hope at this point, they just scrap it. Buy a cheapie, plop it in, and move the restored Carousel to another park. as much complaining and bitching about it as there has been? Why are they making the effort for unappreciative public?